Railway infrastructure

The primary method of increasing activity levels in railways is the further development of infrastructure. At the same time, investments in railway systems are very expensive and require a long lead-time to pay back. To asses the benefit of the investment, it is necessary to correctly asses the existing and expected volume of demand. The existing and – even more importantly – the expected demand, should be high enough to  compensate negative externalities during construction, the barrier effect, as well as noise and visual intrusion. Presenting railway development as an alternative to motorway development could increase public acceptance for this measure. In addition, the durability of the railway tracks (the tracks should be functional for decades with some maintenance) needs to be taken into consideration when the cost assessment is made. 

Below, the three main areas of action related to infrastructure, that can increase activity levels for this mode of transport and shift traffic from more carbon intensive modes of transport, are shortly described. 

Improvement of local connections

Due to the increasing popularity of car ownership, many local lines, most of which were used for daily commuting, have been abolished. Renovation and development of such connections offers the potential for a modal shift from road to rail. However, it must be ensured, that the connections are reliable and if possible, result in time (and money) savings for commuters. The impact of local train connections can be significantly increased if the stations are equipped with parking spaces for cars and bikes, preferably equipped chargers for modes of transport. This would allow for using train to cover larger part of the distance that would otherwise be fully covered by car.  

Improving cross-border connections 

Travelling across EU borders by train is still not as smooth as is the case for travelling by car or flying. In many cases a change of trains is necessary or long waiting time at the border between the countries is required. One way to mitigate the issue is the creation of the Single European Railway Area. The Commission has put forward a proposal for a European Partnership on Rail Research and Innovation, building upon Shift2Rail initiative, which fosters research and innovation in Europe’s railway sector. This issue will be addressed with the implementation of the ERTMS system, including different track charges. 

High-speed rail 

Although high-speed rail accounts for only 2% of the global rail network, it transports one-quarter of all rail passengers. For distances up to 1,200 kilometres, high-speed rail competes with air transport.

IEA’s most ambitious rail scenario for 2050 projects that China could decrease its transport emissions 12% by continuing to massively expand rail, including reaching over 100,000 kilometres of high-speed track.

Turkey is developing 16 new lines to connect major cities in a 1,652-kilometre network by 2023.21 It is planning more than 30 new high-speed rail lines, for a total of 7,419 kilometres, and completed tests in 2020 on the 393-kilometre Ankara-Sivas line, expected to be operational in late 2021.

Night trains

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Reducing ticket taxes

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Booking international trips

It is much easier to book an international flight than an international train trip. If one travels cross-border in Europe involving more than one operator, there is no “one-stop-shop” for booking a train ticket. While websites like Rome2Rio allow for connections to be planned in advance, this service does not allow for booking the tickets, nor does it provide any live data on connections. Train operators do not share data or ticket selling rights. Also, they typically don’t sell through tickets. Rail operators tend to sell tickets only for segments of a journey instead of combined tickets, therefore bypassing obligations relating to compensation, re-routing and assistance. Also, rail operators’ websites do not provide interfaces to other operators’ systems.

European law obliges rail transport operators to share only basic data with other rail carriers or independent ticket vendors. The regulation does not cover fare data and leaves it open to member states to require dynamic travel and traffic data (e.g. information on platform numbers and changes, accurate seat plans, real-time delays and cancellations, and predicted arrival time). These data are critical for a seamless journey and for passengers to find alternative connections in case of disruptions.

Independent ticket vendors need to enter into bilateral agreements with every rail operator and can only sell tickets to which the rail operator gives them access. Therefore, these vendors can only get access to, for example, standard fares, but not to reduced fares or railcards, making it difficult for them to assemble their own products. 

The booking process needs to be significantly simplified. A rail ticketing regulation could achieve this simplification, enabling passengers to search and book rail tickets across Europe with one click, up to 9-12 months in advance, under the protection of passenger rights for the entire trip.

Rail services

In order to appeal to the broadest number of potential passengers, the experience and services associated with taking the train should also be improved in addition to other initiatives. In order for rail services to compete with other forms of transportation, the train must be an appealing option and able to fulfil the passenger’s requirements for a comfortable journey. On a basic level, the train service should be easy to navigate – signage should be conspicuous, timetables should be accurate and easy to read, ticketing should be straightforward and uncomplicated and connections between major cities should be as direct as possible. For cross border journeys this requires information sharing and navigable ticketing systems as it is often quite challenging to determine routes and tickets for train journeys in multiple countries. Additionally, multimodal ticketing should be improved so that passengers are able to complete their journey door-to-door with ease.

For journeys which require a transfer – particularly for those which require a transfer between rail services – the risk of missing a departure is entirely on the passenger as rail services are currently not obliged to provide “through tickets” which guarantee arrival. This is a particularly critical for train services which operate chronically late or often suffer disruptions. 

Other improvements critical to journey satisfaction include timeliness – delays have been shown to hold significant sway over customer satisfaction and opinion. Rail services must ensure high quality service with minimal delays. Other complaints include crowding and lack of luggage space, which can both be addressed by comprehensive ticketing systems which ensure trains are not oversold. 

Examples:

National Rail, a service in the United Kingdom has announced a series of service-improvement projects beginning in 2022. This includes the construction of a new line across London and improvements to rolling stock such as better lighting and air conditioning, more wheelchair accessible spaces, and improved CCTV for customer safety and comfort. Other projects include a revamp of Gatwick airport to alleviate congestion and crowding, which had consistently been the chief complaint of both commuters and leisure travellers. 

London Northwestern Railway is revitalising its rail stations in order to improve the customer experience by improving accessibility options, re-engineering stations to avoid bottleneck points, and improving restrooms for customer comfort. 

Regular timetables

The regular interval timetable is not a new idea, in fact the Netherlands implemented an early version of it in 1938.  In the railway passenger transport the main points are the comfort, the reliability and the easy travel planning. If the trains are coming at the same minute in every hour, or half an hour or two hours, and the waiting time is short at transfer at the nodes, then the railways is more attractive.

Rail passenger transport services with integrated regular interval timetables (IRIT), offer passengers a regular interval timetable for services on the railway network. IRIT have the potential to increase the quality and attractiveness of railway passenger services in comparison to other transport modes. 

There are four general levels of regular timetables:

Level 0: In a railway system without regular timetables the trains run at irregular intervals, e.g. only at rush hour times or when they are completely booked. 

Level 1: Simple regular timetables are the most reduced form to introduce regular timetables and refer to time schedules with regular trains . 

Level 2: The next step would be the introduction of symmetrical regular timetables. In this case, the train connections cross at network nodes at some specific time but without coordinating the crossing time at all network nodes.

Level 3: Integrated regular timetables refer to symmetric regular timetables with train connections meeting at all network nodes at a specific time (e.g. at the full hour). The symmetric frequency is introduced for all network nodes which have been defined in advance. Integrated regular timetables which are designed to be attractive for customers also take into account aspects like the frequency of connections during the day and/or the tariff system (one tariff system for national rail and cooperation with/between regional rail networks as well as across transport systems). 

Level 4: In the last level of integrated regular interval timetables trains run at very high frequency similar to a Metro-System every 10 or 5 minutes. The train frequency is so high that time schedules become irrelevant.

Example:

In Switzerland, timetables are organised symmetrically around the hour (‘minute .00’). If a train arrives at ‘x’ minutes before the hour, its counterpart travelling in the opposite direction departs at ‘x’ minutes after the hour. This basic timetable structure is then repeated every 60 or even every 30 minutes. In other words, it follows a ‘clock face’ rhythm. As connections to other services are always the same in both directions, passengers can thus work out the departure time of their return service themselves.